Equivalent Exchange
by FireflySummer
Summary: Four years after Manhattan, Chitauri ships appear at the outskirts of the solar system. Although the Avengers are ready, they aren't prepared for Thor to suddenly reappear, bringing his recently-rehabilitated younger brother in tow. Whatever game Loki's playing, there's little time to find out, because they have only one shot before the world burns. (Major Character Death/No Slash)
1. Chapter 1: Arrivals

**AN: Hello again lovelies. Wasn't planning on writing again any time soon, but had this plot bunny niggling at me the last couple of days, and this happened. It won't be particularly long, just four chapters or so, but it's impossible to say how soon I'll actually be able to write them.**

**Contrary to what the title suggests, this isn't a crossover piece or at all related to my fic "Encounter"; however, it does borrow heavily from the concepts of equivalent exchange present in series like Fullmetal Alchemist and XxxHolic. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers. **

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Chapter One: Arrivals

If people thought things would return to normal after the Battle for Manhattan, they were wrong. There was no "normal" to return to. Or perhaps, in those three days that had changed the world so dramatically, "normal" had simply changed with it.

Either way, there was no going back and humanity responded as always did: complain and argue, attempt to place blame, and eventually pick up its feet and trudge forward. And even the Avengers, none of whom had any sense of "normal" to begin with, were no exception.

Four years passed. The team gathered and met on random sprees of world saving, although never all in one spot again. Although not normal, life again fell into a sort-of pattern.

That was until the day that SHIELD detected an alien presence on the outskirts of the solar system—stationary, for the time being, hanging ominously in the outer belt amidst the asteroids. The entire world went on red alert (SHIELD could only be as discrete as their enemies would allow, after all, and if NASA could find the ship then heaven knew everybody else could), but when nothing changed after a week, a few optimists started to hypothesize that it might be a _good_ development.

Any hopes, however, we shattered when the still newly-made Bifrost opened, returning Thor to Earth for the first time in nearly a year. With him came the news that theirs was not the only world that had picked up and rebuilt after the Battle of Manhattan.

War had arrived. But this was not the unprepared, seemingly benign planet that the Chitauri had seen fit to attack, so that when the call came they were prepared.

What they weren't prepared for, though, was that when the Bifrost opened, it deposited not one, but two.

And it suddenly became very clear that things did not remain unchanged for long, even in the Realm Eternal.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Thor arrived at the top of the Avenger's Tower at the landing pad that Tony Stark had installed especially for his friend's infrequent commutes. The rebuilt Bifrost had apparently come with some new features, including a fairly pinpoint delivery point, and for a period of about two years earth had enjoyed the frequent favor of their first alien ally.

But then Thor's visits had come to a sudden stop, without warning to the Avengers or even Jane Foster. And so, unable to contact Thor or Heimdall, they sat and waited. It made sense, if they really thought about it, for Thor to get wrapped up in his princely duties. And besides, what was a year to an immortal?

Still, it came as almost a surprise when the telltale storm clouds surged over New York City once more, and the whirlwind returned Thor to earth once more.

The Tower was mostly void of Avengers at the time of his arrival, but it had long since been necessary to greet their friend with too much fanfare. So Steve and Natasha had made the trek to the landing pad alone, waiting until the whirling gusts had died down before venturing out to greet their long absent friend.

When they did eventually do so, all hell broke loose.

Or it would have, had anybody _but_ Steve and Natasha had been there. And even then, the second visitor already had a gun angled between his eyes while the rest of the world held their breath.

Steve didn't move, didn't betray even for a moment how his heart hammered erratically at his rib cage. Somewhere, at the back of his mind, he wondered if Tasha was experiencing the same. Not that it mattered. It certainly wasn't throwing off her aim any.

_Loki_. Steve's photographic memory would never let him forget the face of the man that had attempted to conquer their world a few years before. Even still, the memory of that proud, vicious man did not quite match up with the one that stood before him. He seemed subdued, standing behind the shining Thunder God like a shadow. Like everything that had made him, the oceans of hatred and anger that had fed his destruction, had been stripped away and he'd been broken down until nothing remained. And then, after no more could be done, somebody had stepped in and pieced him back together. It made him look younger. And at the same time, older too, if that was even possible. But now that he let his eyes slide away from Loki for a second, he realized that Thor's countenance bore much the same look.

"What is this, Thor?" Natasha was speaking now, her voice held level in a way that defined her most frightening interrogations. "What is _he_ doing back on Earth?" She let a bit of emotion slip in that word, sharp enough that most men would have turned tail and run. Loki didn't flinch, but didn't even try to meet her eyes.

"I apologize, my friends," Thor replied, trying his best to reciprocate the calm tones (which was a _major_ accomplishment, as far as Thor was concerned). "Much has changed in the past months, on both of my home realms. But the Earth is in danger once more, and there is no _time_ to rekindle old battles."

"_Old? Thor, buddy, but if you'll recall four years ago, a certain someone nearly flattened Manhattan. We just finished making the major repairs_." The well-familiar voice broke into the conversation as Iron Man took a place on the landing pad beside them, taking a cue from Natasha and aiming all arsenal in Loki's direction. The man only watched them impassively, still not meeting any of their eyes but not looking away either.

"You are not listening," growled Thor, his patience clearly wearing thin. Loki _did_ respond now, eyes flashing up to Thor. "There is no _time_ to…"

"No, Thor, they are correct." Loki spoke up now. Thor looked at him with half-annoyance and half-horror. "They have no reason to trust me, and there is no time to waste in this idle prattle." He stepped forward in a fluid motion, arms raised. Instinctively, all but Thor took a step back, preparing for battle. But Loki made no move to attack, halting just out of Natasha's reach holding himself in a sign of surrender.

"Uh sorry, but no," Tony said, "Last time you willingly surrendered, you nearly face-planted the hellicarrier into the ground."

At this, Thor too stepped forward, placing one hand on his brother's shoulder. Loki didn't recoil like Steve had expected, considering their interactions from the last time they both visited Earth, instead shooting his brother with a strange mix of annoyance and worry. The two shared a look, an unheard conversation passing between them, and then to everybody's surprise Loki visibly backed down (although, Steve noted, stepping not again into Thor's shadow, but directly to his side).

"Shall we adjourn to the cells then, my friends?" Thor asked. There were so many emotions wrangling his voice at that moment that Steve was completely at a loss for words. This was _Thor_ for heaven's sakes: the indefatigable god who wore his heart on his sleeve, incapable of insincerity or dishonesty. What had happened in the past year to make him sound like that?

"Sure, we'll just leave your bro there, and we can all go for coffee. Or Schwarma. That's the tradition, right?" Tony was speaking in that lighthearted tone he only used when freaked out of his mind.

"Not this time, I fear," replied Thor simply, nudging his suspiciously complacent supervillain (ex-supervillain?) brother toward the entrance of their tower home, "I will be staying in the cells too, until you see it fit to release the both of us."

"What? But…why?" asked Steve, "You're not a prisoner, Thor, you're our friend."

"Aye, but I am the King of Asgard foremost," he replied, "And it seems ill to me to treat my younger brother and advisor, who has come on my request, with anything less than the comforts that I would take myself." In the four years of knowing Tony Stark, Steve had never seen _anything_ shut him up so quickly or effectively. He would have teased him if he wasn't in a similar state of shock as the two gods swept by.


	2. Chapter 2: Questions

**AN: This is obviously going to bother me until I see it finished, so here's the second chapter...which involves some almost uncharacteristically honest explanations on Loki's part, followed by some explosions.**

**Next Chapter: Angst hits the fan.**

**For now, this is FireflySummer clocking out. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers**

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Chapter Two: Questions

The first time Natasha had interrogated Loki, she'd found him pacing in his cell in an agitated, nervous way that had said almost as much about his current mindset than all his twisted, cruel words. This time, however, he was waiting placidly at the table, hands unbound (by Thor's request), but still bristling with the same annoyed impatience. As always, though, he wore a look of civility as he met her eyes and easily matched her blank face.

"It's good to see you again, Agent Romanoff." He spoke with the grooming of a prince, but Natasha knew firsthand how easily that was faked. Beneath it, a current of restless energy pulsed, and Natasha could almost feel it in each strained word.

"You were expecting me."

"It seemed most likely," he replied, "The soldier is too straightforward to play this game, while the good doctor would not risk an uncalled for outburst in the middle of this abode. And I doubt my brother would allow the archer, seeing as he needs both my eyes at this time."

"We could have sent Tony."

Loki gave a half-chuckle completely lacking in malice, like they two were long-time friends and she had just told an inside joke. The sound was altogether wrong coming from him.

"Unless he's changed dramatically in the past four years, he seems overly fond of his own voice. Which is rather effective for…_threatening_, but not particularly so for interrogation." Something of a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "That aside, last time we had a chat, I threw him out a window. I doubt he'd find concrete nearly so forgiving. Now Agent Romanoff, have a seat and tell me how I can help you."

Natasha didn't take a seat at the table, choosing instead to stand and (for once) looking down on the tall man. He seemed unfazed by this, meeting her gaze with a pair of clouded green eyes.

"Thor trusts you," she said at length, "Unconditionally right now. He's currently trying to convince the others that you don't mean any harm. But quite frankly, I don't buy that."

"Quite frankly, I would be alarmed if you did. I don't suppose that you would simply believe I had a change of heart?" Natasha's expression spoke far more than words ever could, and Loki rubbed his temples as though staving off an oncoming headache. "Agent Romanoff, I could spin tails that would play off the sympathies of your good-hearted Avengers. If not you, then definitely my brother and a number of those other kind fools you keep company with. It would be a delightful game, if I had nothing but revenge and a thirst for power in mind; however, as things stands, those are _not_ my motivations and _we do not have time_. And so I will give you the truth, or the nearest thing I am capable of."

"The legendary Liesmith speaking the truth?" asked Natasha, "And why would we believe you?"

"Whether or not you believe me is entirely your choice." Loki shrugged. "The game that I'm playing is neither for you nor your wretched rock, but for Thor's _life_."

"An unusual amount of concern, considering how you've tried to kill him several times in the last few years."

"As you did at one time with your dear hawk, unless I'm quite mistaken." Loki's eyes sharpened as she watched her face go carefully blank.

"Is this love?" she asked, softly.

"You tell me," came the reply, as though he'd expected the words. "A monster would hardly know the meaning of such a word."

Natasha slid into the seat opposite Loki, her face still blank. "Talk. Thor's life is in danger. Tell me why, and how you plan to stop it."

"As you wish," he replied, the smirk tugging more obviously at this corners of his mouth. He leaned forward, ever so slightly, but without his tension easing in the least. "You don't seem to be one to believe in fate, Agent Romanoff." A look of skepticism.

"Regardless, fate _does_ exist. We can live under the illusion that this is not so, simply because the threads are wound looser at some points than others. During such times, fate is nothing more than a series of probabilities that are kept pathetically predictable as souls flit from one moment to the next; however, this great tapestry would fall to complete chaos without a number of set points to hold it steady. The progression of days and lives turns instinctually towards those set points, inescapable even when we believe ourselves to be acting of our own free will."

"Freedom is the greatest lie," Natasha echoed. Clint had said something like that, once, on one of the days when the flashbacks had been at their peaks.

"Indeed," Loki conceded, "Five years ago, I let myself fall from the Bifrost into the void. It should have killed me…I _hoped_ that it would kill me, but it didn't. And the universe was kind enough to show me why." Here, his voice grew haunted, but he never paused, never found a loss of words. "As I fell, I saw what the fates had designed, at least as far as I was concerned. I saw it all in every wretched combination, yet in all that there were two constants."

"The first was that I was to be the villain who would bring Ragnorak to this godforsaken rock, whether willingly or unwillingly. And the second was that my elder brother would die in the resulting battle. Sometimes by my hand, sometimes by another's, there was no world where we stood side by side. I had no choice in the matter but to be the villain. And so, when my fall left me broken in the hands of the Chitauri, I simply pledged myself to live up to my fate instead of running from it like a sniveling coward."

"So what made you change?" For the first time, Loki fell silent.

"I have long since believed myself to be in Thor's shadow," he said at length, "However, that is not quite true. I _am_ his shadow. What is Loki without Thor?" Again, he paused, a self-deprecating smile playing at his lips. Although his face remained blank, Natasha could sense rather than see an anguish tearing somewhere inside the man. "In five short years, Thor has changed more than in the millennia we spent together. I suppose that it was inevitable that I would change as well. For the better, I would hope, but that is not really my place to stay."

"And now you wish to play the hero."

"You and I both know I never could. My ledger is dripping red, and nothing I do will _ever_ wipe it out. It is pride, I think, to believe that my life, lengthy as it is, could somehow make restitution for those that I took." Here, he shook his head, in a broken, triumphant way. "No, I desire to challenge fate. I am Loki, after all, and I do what I want."

Before Loki would say anything more, he was suddenly on his feet. Reacting out of instinct alone, Natasha mimicked the movement, reaching for one of her unconcealed guns, but he was paying her no mind. Lines of intense worry creased his forehead as he strained to listen for _something_.

And when that something came, they both felt it. It ricocheted through the entire building, an explosion that shook it to the foundations some dozens of floors below. For an explosion that large, it was a miracle of (Tony Stark's) engineering that the building did not come down around their ears.

Loki did not wait for the reverberations to cease before he had crossed the room. The locked door offered no trouble to him, and with a snap of his long, thin fingers, the bolts clanked and the door slid open.

"Agent Romanoff, I believe that your comrades in arms would consider that a waste of a bullet," he said, turning back to where Natasha aimed at him, "There is a battle for you to attend to, and a world for you to save."

"And you?" she asked, "Running home to your allies?"

"Not hardly," he replied with a forced nonchalance, "My royal brother has probably forgotten his helmet again, and you _know_ how head wounds bleed. I honestly don't know how he survived those years without me there." With that, he disappeared through the open doorway, with Natasha Romanoff following after not half a second later.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

It hadn't been the first attack on the tower. For heaven's sakes the Avengers had started with an attack on the tower. So with Loki's sudden reappearance, it should have offered absolutely no surprise that the attack was swift to follow. They had been in such heated debate with Thor, though, that none of them were at all prepared when the first round of explosives went off, sending the building shuddering beneath them.

There was little time to think about this, though, because a moment later the entire floor was swarming with a dozen well-armed Chitauri warriors.

Thor and Tony were both still suited up, and Hawkeye managed to produce a couple guns from somewhere, but for the moment they were horribly outgunned. It didn't take more than a minute of fighting them to realize that these creatures were vastly different form the ones that they had four years ago, when they'd come in fairly unskilled droves that placed their strength in numbers.

No, these moved far too efficiently, shaping into unspoken formations as they attempted to separate each of the Avengers. They seemed to know each of the Avengers and their fighting styles, holding both Thor and Iron Man at bay, while Steve with all his super strength was backing into a crumbling wall.

In an attempt to regain his footing, Steve dodged to the side, pulling up the remains of the now-broken coffee table to act as a makeshift shield. Whether or not the Chitauri found this amusing, they gave no indication, advancing with the same deadly accuracy as before. Suddenly, he felt like he was back in the alley, hiding desperately behind a garbage can lid. Within minutes, he was again backed against the wall, with nothing but a slab of wood between him and three Chitauri weapons.

And then suddenly one of the creatures dropped to the ground with a sickening _thud_. As the creature crumpled, Steve caught sight of an all-too-familiar patriotic shield clutched. The other two creatures didn't have time to retaliate, though, as they too were felled, one with a knife that appeared in a burst of green light, and another with a bullet in its skull.

"I told you you'd want that bullet for later," said Loki to somebody behind him as he handed the shield to Steve, who would have gaped open-mouthed had they not been in the throes of a surprise attack. The man didn't pause to accept thanks or wariness from the other man, his attention now on the four Chitauri besetting Thor.

"Having trouble there, brother?" asked Loki, his voice half-mocking even as he launched himself into the fight. His brother chuckled, despite the peril they were all in.

"Of course not. When have you ever known me to have trouble in battle?" Thor was bantering, _bantering_ with Loki in the middle of a surprise attack. Like it was something they did every day.

"Well, there was that one time in Alfheim when—" Whatever Loki was in the process of saying was cut off as the Chitauri redoubled their efforts, now choosing to focus on the two gods over the rest of the teammates.

"They seem rather familiar with your movements, but not so much mine," remarked Loki idly, "Shall we give them a _real_ show brother?"

"I certainly hope so," came the solid reply.

Suddenly, the two were fighting for real. Whatever had happened before must have just been a warm-up, because the two fell into sync, their bodies forming a natural rhythm honed over centuries of fighting side by side, magic and might forming a perfectly complimented dance. Between the thrusts of Mjollnir and the flashes of knives and magic, the entire battle suddenly whirled around the two men: one broad and golden, the other slim and lithe, light and shadow reincarnated and everything in them testifying of their godhood.

And then the battle came to a close, Chitauri lying dead on the carpet and a victorious Thor and Loki at the epicenter. For a moment, as they stood in the remains of the room, silence rained.

To everybody's surprise, Tony Stark was not the one to break it. The elevator did, with a shrill ding. As the doors slid open, they all readied for an attack, only to find a worried Bruce standing.

"So…uh…" the man looked surveyed the scene, complete with triumphant gods, dead aliens, and broken furniture, clearly trying to quell the Hulk before it appeared unnecessarily. "I take it the elevator blackout _wasn't_ Tony's fault this time?"


	3. Chapter 3: The Gamble

**AN: Sorry for the wait, folks. Life happened. And Multivariate Calculus happened (and likely won). And Iron Man 3 happened. But I don't abandon things, even if I do let them sit for ridiculous periods of time. On the up side, I made it into my major of choice, which should imply some relaxation on my part (minus the part that I will be abroad for the next two months, and internet may be spotty at best where I'm headed). **

**As for the story itself, it's a lot of much-needed explanations of fact (not really character motivations), and at I tried to avoid doing it in a conference room with Nick Fury glaring daggers at all of them. Instead, they're on an airplane. Woo. Exciting. **

**Anyways, the story has expanded to six chapters total (probably). I swear things will actually start happening next chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any associated characters. But I do like to pretend.**

* * *

Chapter Three: The Gamble

To say that the Avengers were used to noise was an understatement. Living with Tony Stark and the God of Thunder left them little choice, and before long, they all began to thrive on it: voices and battles, the concrete pieces of their lives. Proof that they existed, and for a purpose.

But what followed the hours after the sneak attack on the tower was more than just noise. It was noise and color that dragged them along in a whirlpool of confusion, leaving all of them more than a little bemused how they all ended up on a Quintjet headed for Arizona.

Except Thor and Loki of course. They both looked completely unfazed about the whole ordeal, except that Thor looked more exhausted than they had ever seen him.

The two gods were strapped in at one of the corners, Thor clearly positioning his brother as far from the other Avengers as physically possible. Although he hadn't said this aloud, his actions spoke for him, and for a moment it looked from Loki's glare of offended pride that it would evolve into an argument. However, that look had vanished fairly rapidly, replaced by something sad and haunted, and Loki had complied with his brother's wishes without a word.

Out of everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, that had to be the most frightening, Steve decided. He would have almost preferred an all-out argument, because at least that would have been in-character. Loki had given him the strangest of looks after that, and that did nothing to settle the uneasiness in the man's stomach.

The other Avengers were positioned strategically around the Quintjet, some standing, some sitting. Only Tony had made some attempt at conversation, and that was simply because that's what he _did_ when he was nervous or uncomfortable.

Normally, Clint would be flying, but they hadn't wanted to risk it when his mind was clearly not in the game. As a whole, though, he was taking it surprisingly well. Steve hadn't seen the immediate aftermath of Loki's mind control on the man, but from what he had gleaned from the sparse, but haunted, comments the man had only begun making after four years, it hadn't been an easy road. Natasha seemed to sense a storm brewing beneath the uncanny calm, and hovered near him constantly.

Natasha, in turn, knew he was watching her. She always knew things like that, but he couldn't remember a time when she'd actually called him on it. This time was no different, since she seemed to focus all her attention of Clint without ever letting Loki out of her line of sight. Silently, her green eyes flickered up to his blue ones, and for a moment, he could have sworn he saw some other emotion there: worry, perhaps? But as usual, her mask was next to flawless, and her eyes continued their sweep back to the two gods in the corner.

She was hiding something, but that was a safe assumption, because Natasha always hid things. From him, from Fury, even from Clint, if she deemed the situation demanded it. She was a master spy and assassin, after all. He'd learned to let it slide, to trust her, implicitly, to always be acting in the interest of the team.

This secret, however, was likely related to her short conversation with Loki. All of the tapes of their conversation had mysteriously been destroyed in the attack, and although she'd given her report, it was undoubtedly edited. Whatever it was, though, caused her to worry. And that could only be an ill omen.

Steve let his eyes travel to Thor and Loki, to find that the blond man had fallen asleep, leaning heavily on the slighter man. Loki didn't look annoyed, or even amused. Just that same haunted look he had caught earlier.

Thor, however, did not look well at all. It was hard to notice when he stood upright and walked with the same confidence that had always helped cement their team. But now, slumped over in troubled sleep against his villainous younger brother, he looked more than exhausted. He looked wasted, and not for the first time, Steve wondered what had happened to him in the year past.

The thunder god mumbled something in his sleep, his brow creasing with a dark dream. His left hand, which Steve only now noticed was wrapped around his brother's slimmer (almost skeletal) one, squeezed tightly. In response, Loki leaned in, pressing his cheek against Thor's hair and murmuring something so low that nobody caught it. Almost instantly, Thor relaxed, slipping into an even deeper sleep. When the man's breathing had evened out, Loki finally turned to face them, meeting Steve's eyes evenly, unflinchingly, for the first time since his arrival.

"If there is a time to speak," he said at length, "It would be now, when my brother will not intervene."

"What did you do?" Steve demanded, surprised at the lack of panic he felt despite any ominous implications that the other man's words held. Perhaps it was that his voice, strong and smooth and slippery as ever, lacked the malice that had so characterized it in their first encounters.

"Nothing more than send him off to a much deserved rest," replied Loki, glancing down at his brother who, despite having only a little on him in height, seemed to dwarf him. "As he has not done in many nights now. It is a light spell, one that ensures rest with pleasant dreams, but he will awake if you raise your voices. Please do him the courtesy of this moment's reprieve."

It wasn't really a threat, unless Thor decided to smash them for picking on his little brother, but it most certainly wasn't a request either. For a moment, the silence continued to reign as each party regarded the other warily. Much to everybody's surprise, though, Clint beat Tony to the first word.

"What," the man ground out, "Do you _think_ you're doing?"

"I believe that you had it all explained to you," Loki replied, "As we explained to dear Director Fury, we came here seeking your aid. The ships, plural since there will be others before the sun sets this day, belong to the Chitauri, the same race that I led in an invasion of this world four years ago."

"The ones that you led here," Tony clarified. Loki shot him a nasty look, and Steve felt relieved that the man still had _some_ fight in him.

"I merely sped up the process, especially with the way you were tinkering with the Tesseract," he replied tartly, "The arrival of the main fleet would have happened. If anything, the events of four years past slowed the inevitable."

"Well excuse us if we don't kiss your feet in thanks," Tony shot back. Loki favored him with another look, but didn't take the bait. "So you and Thor are going to go solo to defeat an army bigger than the one that put a sizeable dent in the Big Apple?"

"That is the general idea, yes," replied Loki with a wry smile, "Which is why we now arrive at the part that I did _not_ inform Director Fury of." He paused, reading the suspicion in their eyes without ever shifting out of that infuriatingly sad grin. "Originally, this was _my_ mission. In the months that I spent in their company, I learned of a weakness in the Chitauri's core. If exploited, this weakness could lead to the entire army crumbling."

"But that won't stop the war," Natasha commented, because of course nothing was that simple. "The Mad Titan, Thanos, you called him, wouldn't rely solely on the Chitauri."

"That is correct," Loki agreed, "There are other forces, more specialized, while Thanos himself is seemingly immortal and wields three incredibly powerful weapons known as the Infinity Gems."

Tony snickered. Loudly. "Infinity Gems? What is this, an 80s cartoon? What kind of name is that?"

"That is not their true name, Stark. It is merely the one that translates best for your inferior mortal mind. But the name matters not, for it does not change what they truly are: concentrated power that makes the Tesseract look like a child's toy." Loki's eyes were dangerous now, and although trained on Tony, he obviously addressed them as a whole. "This is not a _game_, this is a _gamble_. A desperate gamble for the fate of the Nine Realms."

"What are you betting with?" Steve asked quietly, but in the manner that the entire team heard. Even Tony quieted, snarky comments coming to a halt. "Your life? Our lives? What if we _lose_? There's no coming back from this one, no where you can run to. And who will defend Earth—and Asgard—if we fail?"

"I've made many desperate bets in my lifetime," replied Loki, his biting anger laced with something of a sardonic humor, "However, you are correct. For Thor and I, there is no return from this mission, regardless whether we win or lose. I cannot protect Thor _and_ complete my mission. Which is the role you are to play."

He sighed, shifting Thor's weight on his shoulder. "It is entirely up to you to decide whether to accompany us. But know this: should this mission fail, nothing will save you. Not Earth's Mightiest Heroes, nor all the powers of Asgard. Even should Thanos lose the war, the Earth will _burn_."

Loki let his words hang in the air, deadly sharp and weighing painfully on each heart. He was still not telling them everything, but for all his manipulations, Steve wondered if it was at all possible that every word the liesmith spoke was the truth.


End file.
